Sense of satisfaction

Sunday

Dec 30, 2012 at 12:01 AMDec 30, 2012 at 12:31 AM

Adam Smith / Times-News

CHAPEL HILL — After James Michael McAdoo flung the basketball upward in celebration and Dexter Strickland happily skipped off the court past the student section, after having logged 47 practices this season and just after the conclusion of their 13th game, the North Carolina Tar Heels gladly indulged in something new Saturday.

A gleeful, previously untapped sense of accomplishment.

North Carolina’s 79-73 defeat of 20th-ranked UNLV at the Smith Center was followed by a locker-room scene that spoke volumes about the significance the Tar Heels attached to the victory.

It started with Roy Williams hopping.

Soon, players jumped in, joining the 62-year-old coach for what became the type of triumphant, bouncing mosh pit that P.J. Hairston hadn’t taken part in since March 3 — when North Carolina blitzed Duke to close the preceding regular season.

“Probably the happiest I’ve seen Coach this season,” Hairston said, minutes later. “It was a lot of happiness in the locker room. It really felt great.”

And it was needed — perhaps even for a necessity — for a Tar Heels team, searching for consistency and confidence at the doorstep of Atlantic Coast Conference play, that to this point had been defined by unanswered identity questions, unfulfilling victories and glaring, lopsided losses (to Butler, Indiana and Texas).

“It’s like a monkey that got off our back, a chance for us to show everybody the potential that we have to be a great team,” Strickland said.

“It’s great because this team hasn’t showed up all year against a big team, and this was the game to do it,” Hairston said.

“The team that showed up, I think, is even better than we see in practice,” McAdoo said, “which is kind of encouraging, to know that we can take it up another notch.”

In turning back UNLV (11-2), North Carolina (10-3) relied on evenly distributed scoring, intensified defense and heightened emotion to win its final non-league game of the regular season without Reggie Bullock, its second-leading scorer and a key source of leadership, who suffered a mild concussion in Thursday night’s practice.

Strickland scored 16 points, Hairston, a sophomore, added 15 points and four steals in the first start of his college career, McAdoo chipped in 13 points and nine rebounds and freshmen Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson had 12 points apiece.

“We were really good defensively in the first half,” Williams said. “The second half, I was really proud of our toughness, and you haven’t heard me say that yet this year.”

The Tar Heels, bringing an engaged home crowd to its feet, opened a 13-point lead during the game’s first 9½ minutes and led 36-21 on Johnson’s dunk off J.P. Tokoto’s lob in the last three minutes of the first half.

That 15-point cushion had evaporated by the 14-minute mark of the second half, when Katin Reinhardt’s 3-pointer provided the Runnin’ Rebels their only lead at 49-48.

McAdoo, shaking off 1-for-8 shooting from the field in the first half, immediately responded with six straight points — a put-back, a tough drive that produced a three-point play and a free throw — that pushed North Carolina back ahead to stay.

UNLV later pulled within one point on four occasions during a 2½-minute span. The Tar Heels found a counterpunch each time — such as Hairston’s rattled-in 3 with 9:50 remaining and McAdoo’s left-handed mini hook with 7:11 left.

North Carolina, spreading its half-court sets on offense during the tight final minutes, finished the last 4:41 by surviving on one field goal. That was Strickland’s shot-clock-beating jumper to rescue an awful possession and put the Tar Heels up 74-68 with 1:34 left.

“We had to play with our heart, but we had to use our mind and kind of out-think them in certain situations,” McAdoo said.

“We played with such a sense of urgency on the defensive end,” Hairston said. “We were attacking them, doing the little things as far as taking charges, getting loose balls, scrapping, boxing out, everything it took to win.”

Anthony Bennett, UNLV’s top scorer who entered averaging 19.5 points per game, had 15 points, 13 rebounds and served up a monster facial on Johnson in the second half, a dunk likely to be replayed in heavy rotation.

Anthony Marshall (15 points, eight assists), Reinhardt (four 3s, 15 points) and Bryce Dejean-Jones (14 points, eight rebounds) also were important contributors for the Runnin’ Rebels, who missed a chance to secure their first 10-game winning streak since the 2006-07 season.

-- TIP-INS …: North Carolina’s next game is its ACC opener Jan. 6 at Virginia. … McAdoo played through leg cramps that forced him to the bench with 6½ minutes remaining. He returned with 3:58 left. … Tar Heels guard Leslie McDonald missed some time in the second half due to a strained shoulder. He also returned. … Mike Moser, an honorable mention All-American last season and UNLV’s leading rebounder this season, fouled out in 12 minutes off the bench. He had missed five of the previous six games because of a dislocated elbow and hip injury. … The Runnin’ Rebels missed 10 of 13 shots from the field and coughed up six turnovers during the game’s first 8½ minutes as North Carolina built a 17-6 lead and breathed life into its crowd. “Indiana, Butler, Texas, they all jumped out on us real quick,” Hairston said. “We didn’t fight back. We just let it happen. But this game, it was different.” … Bullock’s concussion stemmed from a collision with McAdoo in Thursday night’s practice. … Of Saturday’s post-game joy, Williams said: “It was fun to have some excitement in that locker room. We haven’t been able to have that yet this year. Those are the kind of moments that I coach for, so I can see kids enjoying themselves and feeling some satisfaction of doing some things that were fairly difficult to do.” … Former Tar Heels player and coach Matt Doherty watched Saturday’s game from the first row behind the North Carolina bench. He was greeted by a nice ovation in the first half when he was pictured on the Smith Center videoboards with the caption “welcome home.”